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An item to consider adopting panhandling restrictions in unincorporated areas of Harris County failed after commissioners cast a split vote on Thursday.
In his pitch for stronger enforcement against panhandling and roadside vending, Commissioner Tom Ramsey pointed to 150 pedestrian deaths on county roadways last year, but he couldn’t immediately say how many of those pedestrians who died were panhandling.
RELATED: Commissioners to consider panhandling restrictions in unincorporated Harris County
The proposed ordinance aimed to balance public safety concerns with humanitarian considerations by creating a framework that would have respected individual rights and supported vulnerable populations, according to commissioners court documents. Ramsey previously called the issue the most common one he hears from residents of his precinct, which covers suburbs like Cypress, Spring and Atascocita.
“I’ve seen little children with their parents in the median as cars race by them at speeds that just make no sense to me,” he said Thursday. “This is another tool in our ability to control what goes on within the traveling roadways. We adopted a Vision Zero plan, which means we are opposed to deaths on our roadways. I can’t think of any more vulnerable position than to see folks where they are. Doing those kinds of activities creates a big problem.”
Ramsey proposed a motion to direct the county attorney’s office to review potential restrictions and draft an ordinance that would have gone back to commissioners for a final vote at a later court date.
Commissioner Adrian Garcia seconded the motion and said commissioners could debate the merits of the ordinance after one was drafted. He said it could bring up issues about enforcement and who may be caught up in them.
The proposal failed to garner the support of Democratic commissioners Rodney Ellis and Lesley Briones, who both raised concerns that the restrictions would negatively impact the county’s unhoused residents. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo was not present at commissioners court Thursday.
“I just don’t think we ought to criminalize people being poor,” Ellis said. “The studies that I’ve seen from San Francisco and Fairfax counties found no significant evidence that panhandling endangers public safety and that enforcement of panhandling regulations primarily displaces poor people.”
The failed motion comes months after Houston’s city council voted to approve a similar rule that prohibits sitting, standing and walking on median strips on divided roadways in city limits. Council members at the time said the rule doesn’t specifically target panhandling, but prevents it on narrow medians.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire speculated that some panhandlers earn $200 to $300 a day while also collecting Supplemental Security Income benefits from the federal government. He said the new city enforcement is reasonable because some panhandlers “are becoming more aggressive.”
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